Further thoughts on the cultural labor of poetry and art. Not merely "is it good?," but "what has it accomplished?"...reviews of recent poetry collections; selected poems and art dealing with war/peace/social change; reviews of poetry readings; links to political commentary (particularly on conflicts in the Middle East); youtubed performances of music, demos, and other audio-video nuggets dealing with peaceful change, dissent and resistance.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Two Poetic Memorials: "Facing It" by Yusef Komunyakaa and "At the Un-National Monument Along the Canadian Border" by William Stafford

Today, I'll be on AROUND NOON with Dee Perry, (WCPN, 90.3 Cleveland), to read and talk a bit about Come Together: Imagine Peace and read a couple poems for Memorial Day. These are the poems I'll read, two poems that summon "monuments" and turn them into memorials.

In Yusef Komunyakaa's "Facing It," he faces the Vietnam Veteran Memorial wall and his own past, all that's buried within. In William Stafford's "At the Un-National Monument Along the Canadian Border," he creates a monument that exists only insofar no one knows about it--that memorial to a peace which never makes it into the history books, so bathed in blood.

Yusef Komunyakaa: “Facing It”

My black face fades,hiding inside the black granite.I said I wouldn’t,dammit: No tears.I’m stone. I’m flesh.My clouded reflection eyes melike a bird of prey, the profile of nightslanted against morning. I turnthis way–the stone lets me go.I turn that way–I’m insidethe Vietnam Veterans Memorialagain, depending on the lightto make a difference.I go down the 58,022 names,half-expecting to findmy own in letters like smoke.I touch the name Andrew Johnson;I see the booby trap’s white flash.Names shimmer on a woman’s blousebut when she walks awaythe names stay on the wall.Brushstrokes flash, a red bird’swings cutting across my stare.The sky. A plane in the sky.A white vet’s image floatscloser to me, then his pale eyeslook through mine. I’m a window.He’s lost his right arminside the stone. In the black mirrora woman’s trying to erase names:No, she’s brushing a boy’s hair.

***

"At The Un-National Monument Along The Canadian Border" by William Stafford

This is the field where the battle did not happen, where the unknown soldier did not die. This is the field where grass joined hands, where no monument stands, and the only heroic thing is the sky.

Birds fly here without any sound, unfolding their wings across the open. No people killed-or were killed-on this ground hallowed by neglect and an air so tame that people celebrate it by forgetting its name.

abu ghraib arias

To See the Earth

Behind the Lines: War Resistance Poetry on the American Homefront

About Me

Poetry books and chapbooks include *Pictures at an Exhibition*, *Sand Opera*, *A Concordance of Leaves*, *abu ghraib arias,* *To See the Earth,* *Instants,* *Primer for Non-Native Speakers,* *Compleat Catalogue of Comedic Novelties: Poems of Lev Rubinstein,* and A Kindred Orphanhood: Selected Poems of Sergey Gandlevsky*. Scholarship: *Behind the Lines: War Resistance Poetry on the American Homefront Since 1941.*